Foreign universities could have India campuses by '10

MUMBAI: Diverse nationalities aren't a common feature even in India's top educational institutions, the IITs and IIMs. However, a mixed campus could well become a reality when the international universities come to India - particularly because these schools aren't planning to price themselves out of the reach of locals.

As they have done in Singapore , most foreign varsities will bring down the price tag involved in getting a foreign degree, largely thanks to the lower cost of living and ancillary expenses in India. But, more interestingly, they will also have fees that match those charged by private institutes in India, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said.

"A number of foreign universities, and I'm talking about quality institutions, have met me to express interest in establishing a campus in India," he said. And students can get a far more cheaply priced degree from, say, Harvard University or Imperial College, if they sign up from the India campus? "Exactly," concurred Sibal. "For years, thousands of our students have travelled abroad for higher education. Now, let's build India into a hub of top-class higher education to which the world comes."

In a complete turn-around of the government's stand on foreign universities, Sibal said that foreign institutes coming here would be considered on par with private unaided universities. When asked if the government would control fees and push quotas, the minister rebutted, "When we don't control fees in private unaided institutes, why should we do so for foreign universities?"

However, the accreditation and assessment agency that will monitor the quality of Indian institutes will also rate the international universities. The Foreign Education Providers' Bill is likely to be presented in the upcoming Parliament session in November, Sibal added.

University presidential delegations from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and Purdue have come to India in the past few years to learn more about and from the country. Last week, a team from Imperial College met Sibal and also visited Maharashtra. Several foreign universities keen on coming to India have already moved beyond the spadework - Georgia Tech has bought land in Hyderabad and the Schulich School of Business at York University is " committed' ' to setting up a campus in Mumbai.

To mark its presence in the financial capital, this Canada-based management school is offering MBA programmes by partnering with the S P Jain Institute of Management and Research. If all goes as planned, the world will be in the classroom called India by 2010.